San Diego Roundup : Half Marathon Will Feature Past Champions

Approximately 6,000 runners are expected to compete in the America’s Finest City Half Marathon, which will begin at the Cabrillo National Monument on Point Loma at 7 a.m. Sunday and will end in the Plaza in Balboa Park.

To celebrate the race’s 10th anniversary, all past champions have been invited to compete, according to Neil Finn, race director.

Kirk Pfeffer of Boulder, Colo, the course record-holder, is expected. Pfeffer won the race in 1981 with a record time of 1 hour 2 minutes 55 seconds. He finished third in last year’s race.

Also expected to compete are 1978 winner Ben Wilson of Claremont, Calif.; 1979 winner Gary Close of Yuma, Ariz.; 1980 winner Terry Cotton of Lakeside; 1982 winner Domingo Tibaduiza, who is originally from Colombia but now lives in Reno, Nev., and last year’s winner, Joel Hernandez of Mexico City.

The women’s field is expected to include such former winners as Laurie Binder of Oakland, who won the race in 1980 and 1985; Carol Urish-McLatchie from Houston, the 1984 champion, and Terry Schmidt-Puckett of Reno, who won last year. Nancy Ditz, who will not compete Sunday, set the women’s course record of 1:14:31 in 1983.

The men’s field also includes Marty Froelich of Colorado Springs, Colo., who was the ninth-ranked American marathon runner in 1986, and San Diego’s Jerry Marsh, who won the 1987 Coronado Half Marathon.

Late registration will be held today and Saturday at the Holiday Inn at the Embarcadero, 1355 North Harbor Dr. Runners may register from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Proceeds from the race will benefit the American Lung Assn. For more information, call the Lung Assn. at 297-3901.

Jo Ann Meyer, who has been a cyclist for only two years, will compete in the 19th International Cycling Federation World Cup Championships in St. Johann near Salzburg, Austria, Aug. 27-30.

The 44-year-old from Del Mar won a gold medal at the U.S. Cycling Federation age-graded national championships at Park City, Utah. Meyer, who is a member of the San Diego Bicycling Club, will compete in three amateur events in Austria.

Meyer qualified for the World Cup Championships by winning a gold medal in the 40-kilometer time trial at Park City with a time of 1 hour 4 minutes and a silver medal in the 18-kilometer criterium (10 laps of 1.8 kilometers each).